Improving precision functional mapping routines with multi-echo fMRI.

Overview

Rapidly developing approaches to acquiring and analyzing densely-sampled, single-subject fMRI data have opened new avenues for understanding the neurobiological basis of individual differences in behavior and could allow fMRI to become a more clinically useful tool. Here, we review briefly key insights from these precision functional mapping studies and a highlight significant barrier to their clinical translation. Specifically, that reliable delineation of functional brain networks in individual humans can require hours of resting-state fMRI data per-subject. We found recently that multi-echo fMRI improves the test-retest reliability of resting-state functional connectivity measurements, mitigating the need for acquiring large quantities of per -subject data. Because the benefits of multi-echo acquisitions are most pronounced in clinically important but artifact-prone brain regions, such as the subgenual cingulate and structures deep in the subcortex, this approach has the potential to increase the impact of precision functional mapping routines in both healthy and clinical populations.